The recent ruling on health reform has created an even greater need for accurate benchmarking data. Proving the age old adage that if you can’t measure it, then you can’t manage it. Advisers armed with information that drills down through national, regional, state, industry and company size will be better prepared to assist larger employers with employee acquisition and retention, and smaller employers make intelligent decisions on whether or not to “pay or play.”
Let’s say you were a midsize technical design firm in California competing with other private-sector companies within the state for quality employees, and you want to demonstrate the value of your PPO plan. Let’s say your single cost is $489. If you use national numbers to compare your rate, you’d be $50 per month more than the national average. However, when compared to other PPO plans in California, your cost is actually $24 per month less expensive than the average.
